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Cemetery saga continues PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Monday, 01 August 2005
07/27/05
Scott Welton

SIKESTON - A local cemetery bought by an out-of-state holding company has seen better days.
Since being purchased by Mike Graham and Associates of Houston, Texas, maintenance of the Garden of Memories Cemetery has not been satisfactory, according to Charles Campbell of Sikeston. “The grass is not mowed - it looks horrible,” he said after a recent visit.

Campbell’s wife and parents are all buried there. He also used to have an insider’s view of the cemetery’s maintenance program before it was purchased by Mike Graham and Associates.

“During the 1990s, I worked part-time in the office in Garden of Memories,” he recalled. “At that time we had two, full-time experienced groundskeepers and during the summer months we usually hired extra help - one more person. We had the personnel and equipment to keep it up.”

Campbell said since the cemetery was purchased by Mike Graham and Associates “it has just deteriorated to the point it’s just bad.”

“They can’t keep grass mowed and can’t keep markers raised if they don’t have the personnel to do it,” he continued. “I’m not putting the blame on anybody here - it’s Mike Graham and Associates.”

This is not a recent development, according to Campbell. He has a copy of a letter he sent in September 2003 complaining of poor maintenance at the cemetery.

“Of course I got no reply - not even the courtesy of a form letter,” he said.

Campbell also has a copy of a customer agreement from the cemetery which advises of charges for providing continual care for the spaces and markers and that the funds are deposited into an irrevocable perpetual care fund.

The cemetery’s customers in the area have voiced a number of other complaints as well most of which are related to paying for tombstones or other markers in advance only to wait years without receiving the item.

Deloris Bee said Tuesday that her mother, Esther Hann, was finally promised a refund for a plaque she purchased and never received but the refund still hasn’t appeared yet after the four-to-six week wait.

Ron Bockencamp with the Attorney General’s office said he is now investigating the cemetery under consumer fraud statutes.

Additionally, the Board of Endowed Care has over 20 complaints filed there and has an active investigation going, Bockencamp said.

“It looks like there is a significant amount of concern,” he said.

The cemetery’s patrons had also recently been concerned about the recorded message advising the cemetery’s number “has been disconnected or is no longer is service.”

Donya Davis, regional administrative manager for the western region of Mike Graham and Associates, said the lines were down due to technical problems, “not shut off due to non-payment or anything like that.” The lines are back in service.

When contacted, neither Donya Davis nor supervisor Randal Davis had any comment on complaints of maintenance problems or prepaid markers and tombstones not being delivered in the promised time frames.

Personnel at the main office for Mike Graham and Associates also declined to offer any comment.

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

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